By Lori Ehde
It's a ritual nearly all kids must endure before they can go to school: a kindergarten physical that includes a round of immunizations.
Five-year-old Evan Bolt, Edgerton, wasn't looking forward to the shots Monday, but he and his classmates are the lucky first-time users of a new ointment that makes the needle less painful.
"Emla" cream is applied on the skin where the shots are given. After several minutes it numbs the area much like a shot of Novocaine would.
"We've had some kids who haven't moved (when given the shot). They just sat there," said Dr. Diane Kennedy. It was her idea to use the cream for kindergarten shots this year at Luverne Medical Center.
While it numbs the pain, the new ointment doesn't make the needles less scary, and many young patients, including Evan, cry anyway.
"So much of it is the fear of the shot more than the pain," Kennedy said. "But it's still much better than before."
With school starting in only a few weeks, LPN Lori Mead said the clinic sees several kindergartners a day for physicals and shots.
All clinic doctors are now using the Emla cream, and it has made her job smoother.
"We use it on preschoolers, because they're the ones that fight. It just makes it a little easier," Mead said.
"They don't necessarily feel the needle, but they might feel the solution going in. That sometimes burns a little."
Emla cream isn't new on the market. Luverne Community Hospital has been using the cream the past couple years on children to start intravenous needles.
The state of Minnesota requires all children entering kindergarten this fall to be up to date on their immunizations.
For most children, that means three shots: one for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, another for polio and another for measles, mumps and rubella.
The kindergarten round of shots complete most immunization programs for children until their required tetanus booster at age 11 or 12.